


You Don't Know Love (like you used to)

by LaFemmeFatale



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-04 08:30:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14016312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaFemmeFatale/pseuds/LaFemmeFatale
Summary: Dan's life was a little bit more sophisticated than he ever let on. He has ghosts of his past and old scars that never healed. Now that his old love comes back to his life, Dan needs to deal with all the baggage he thought he left behind.Thankfully, he has the Devil to help him with it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an unbetaed version. I'm sorry for possible mistakes.

Sometimes, the days were slow. So very, very slow... Especially, when they were spent in stacks of documents. It wasn't every day when Lucifer could spend the time chasing criminals.

While he was flipping a pencil in the air, Chloe was quietly working. There was no point trying to talk to her. She was a busy woman and very dutiful, too. Lucifer already learned better than to try to distract her. Dan was off to somewhere, though, which meant he was not as busy as the Detective.

Grinning, Lucifer went for a hunt.

The Douche wasn't very difficult to find. He was sitting alone in break room with a cup of bad office coffee in one hand and his cellphone in the other. Even as Lucifer pointedly loudly walked up to him, Dan ignored him and dully stared at the screen of his phone. Irritated, Lucifer snatched it to see what's keeping his favourite victim busy. He read out loud a text on the screen:

_Please, meet me._  
_I loved you, Dan and I love still._  
_I'm sorry for everything that happened._  
_I need to talk to you. Contact me as soon as you can._  
_Simon xx_

'Hey!' shouted irritated detective, taking his property back from Lucifer. 'Mind your own damned business!'

Lucifer was baffled. He always seen Douche hanging out with women. It was a strange discovery that he was playing for both teams.

'My, my, Daniel...' he said with a huge grin spreading on his lips. 'Who'd have thought you have a boyfriend!'

Dan flinched at that, a hurt and angry look ghosted over his features.

'I had a boyfriend. Very long time ago.' he corrected.

'And what happened then?' Lucifer inquired with the same playful expression, wanting to drive the knife a little deeper. 'He got bored of your douchiness like our dear Detective?'

Dan's expression was so full of heartbreak that it made Lucifer immidiately regret his words.

'I-... I'm sorry. That was uncalled for.' he apologized after a moment. He didn't need to hear his therapist's lecture.

'Shut the fuck up,' Dan whispered, his voice full of bitterness and fury. 'Leave me alone.'

Espinoza walked off back to his desk. Lucifer respected his wishes and left the man alone for the rest of the day.

'Do you know if Detective Douche ever dated a man?' he asked Chloe when they entered her car. The work day was over and she was driving him back to Lux.

'First of all, his name is Dan. Second of all... Why? Are you interested?' she grinned, teasingly. 'You're pulling his pigtails often enough...'

'Don't be ridiculous, Detective,' Lucifer snorted. 'Answer me. This is important.'

Chloe gave him a look, clearly not beliving him very much.

'I know he dated someone before me and it was bad,' she said. 'Dan never told me the person's identity or implied a gender, though. He was vague about the whole thing... When I met him, he was still recovering from the breakup. Whatever happened, messed him up very badly. I wanted to find out more, but he was very tight-lipped about it. I asked around his friends, but all they said was I should talk to Dan about someone named... Sam? Or Simon? Something like that. I tried, but he wouldn't talk to me at all.' she explained. 'Why do you ask?'

It was hard to come up with an answer to that question. After all, he couldn't lie.

'I was curious,' Lucifer said as though that was all there is. It was true enough.

'I think Dan is interested in men,' Chloe added with a shrug. 'He never acted on it in front of me, but I've seen his interactions with guys and... I sometimes thought there was something in the air.'

Intuitive as ever, Lucifer thought. He considered if he should tell her about what had happened ealier that day with Dan.

In the end, he chose not to. They drove back to Lux in silence. The devil couldn't help but feel a little concerned (and a little guilty). When Chloe dropped him off and her car disappeared behind a corner, Lucifer got into his own car and drove do Espinoza's place.

It wasn't a wealthy house. The devil knew working in LAPD was no million-making job, but Dan could've afforded a little better. Part of him suspected the Douche might be punishing himself.

Lucifer rang the doorbell. Through the entrance he heard a loud music, very un-Dan thing. Much to his surprise, he indentified the music as Hollywood Undead.

Not terrible. Not terrible at all.

'What do you want?' Espinoza slurred, opening the door. Lucifer could tell the man was drunk and possibly... he's been crying, too?

Oh Hell, what have I gotten myself into? the devil thought to himself.

'I wanted to apologize,' he said with fake bright smile. 'And check on you. You seemed upset ealier.'

Dan gave him a long disbeliving look and snorted.

'You don't give a fuck about me, so don't pretend that you do,' he growled. 'In fact, I'm pretty sure you'd love to be rid of me once and for all.'

It was true. It used to be true. Except, somehow it wasn't true anymore and Lucifer may have started to warm up to Dan's company.

'Stop being so negative, Daniel,' the devil admonished. 'Let the guy in, share some vodka... Be a gentleman I know you can be if you try very, very hard.'

The detective snorted at that and allowed Lucifer in. The place wasn't too much of a mess, but it was clear Dan was a lonely man.

'Mind explaining why are you here?' he asked, pouring two shots of vodka and setting them on the table.

'I think I've told you already,' the devil shrugged, swallowing his drink.

Dan shot him a disbeliving look. He didn’t try to pry the truth from Lucifer anymore, though. Instead, he picked his glass and drank the liquid in it. Alcohol burned his throat pleasantly.

'Who’s Simon?' Lucifer inquired after a couple more shots. Dan was drunk and therefore more likely to answer.

Espinoza was silent, though, numbly staring at an empty glass.

'He’s my... my...' Dan started, but he ran out of words. To the Devil it seemed that dear Detective Douche simply couldn’t find a name for what he and that Simon person had. All kinds of emotions danced across Dan’s features. A very complicated relationship then, Lucifer concluded. 'He meant a lot to me. But I didn’t mean much to him.'

Espinoza refused to elaborate on the story any further. And so, the demon decided to needle him a little bit more to get his answers.

'He left you.' Lucifer said, and unsurprisingly Dan nodded. 'Was he cheating on you?'

The detective shrugged and Morningstar took it as a ‘yes’. There was something in Dan’s expression that suggested there was more to it than that. Before Lucifer could say anything else, Espinoza interrupted him.

'Why are you asking me all of this?' he inquired. His speech was slurred, but he was coherent enough to question Lucifer’s sudden curiosity about his life. 'You hate me. If you want to use this against me, then...'

'No! No. I promise, it’s nothing sinister,' Morningstar denied, raising his hand defensively. 'I regretted my words from ealier. I decided to make sure you’re fine.'

'I’m fine,' Dan sighed quietly. It was clearly a lie.

'If you say so...' Lucifer shrugged. Espinoza didn’t say anything else, and the devil didn’t push him. Still, Morningstar made a mental note to keep an eye on Douche. Something wasn’t right and Lucifer had a feeling this Simon person would show up soon. There was going to be a mess, and it didn’t take a prophet to know it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Say hi to Simon!

The next day was all tension and uncomfortable silence. Lucifer watched Dan from afar who was moping around and pointedly ignoring most of the text signals. Morningstar had no doubt who was spamming Detective Douche with messages. Still, he did absolutely nothing about this knowledge. He continued to observe Dan.

The kicked puppy expression on the human's face was heartbreaking, though.

'Can you do something about that?' Lucifer finally snapped, startling Chloe. She looked the way he was pointing at and saw her ex-husband in particularly poor mood.

The detective sighed deeply.

'Lucifer...' she started in her best don't-argue-with-me voice. 'Dan is... Dan is his own person. He dislikes other people asking about his day or his problems. He has this idea that he's ought to deal with all his struggles alone. That was pretty much one of the reasons our marriage fell apart. He's a great team player, but only for as long as his own private life isn't involved. I have an idea it's something his father inflicted upon him. Military upbringing and all that.'

That explained certain aspects of Dan Espinoza, certainly. Lucifer stared at the man, as though trying to deduce more details about his life. Meanwhile, Dan's sulking slowly turned into irritation. Morningstar watched the other picking up his phone and angrily calling whoever was on the other end. Persumably, this Simon persona. Espinoza shouted out his piece and didn't allow the other person to respond, or so it looked like. Slamming his phone against the desk, Dan hid his face in the palms of his hands.

'If you need this person to be dealt with, just say so,' Lucifer offered finally. For some reason it was irritating to see Dan so distracted and upset. It was always a highlight of his day to tease and irritate Espinoza but now it seemed that the Douche's attention was completely elsewhere.

'Dealt with?' Dan repeated, grimacing in shock and distaste. 'We're at LAPD station. You know this could be very easily misinterpreted, righ?'

Lucifer rolled his eyes.

'Don't pretend to be more dimwitted than you are,' he countered, irritably. The offended look on Dan's face was satisfying... except, not as much as it usually was. 'Someone's bothering you, that much is clear. You've been getting texts all day and I can take a wild guess it's this Simon guy. I could find him and politely ask him to stop messing with you.'  
Espinoza's eyes narrowed.

'You could, but why would you? We're not best friends, you have no reason to stand up for me,' he said, crossing his arms on his chest. 'Besides, I don't want you... or anyone else, for that matter... to get involved in this. It's something I need to solve on my own.'

'True, we're not best friends, but the Detective cares for you and...' Lucifer started, but ran out of words. There was really no way of defending his actions without outright lying and he never lied.

'She does. In her own way,' Dan shrugged and a small, yet bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips. 'However, she shown no interest in the ongoing situation. She doesn't care and neither should you. Please, leave me alone.'

'Fine. Have it your way.' Lucifer huffed. There wasn't much he could do now. 'Just don't be an idiot about it. If not me, then talk to others before this situation gets nasty. And it doesn't take a genius to know it's going to Hell fast.'

He walked away after that. He could feel Dan staring at his back.

Days passed. Lucifer didn't approach Espinoza about the subject, even though he noticed Dan's pale complexion and bags under his eyes. It was obvious that Detective Douche wasn't getting enough sleep and, probably food as well. Nobody mentioned it, though, and Lucifer wasn't about to do it either. He observed the situation progress.

Nearly a week passed since his last confrontation with Dan when a breakthrough happened.

A man walked into the station. A man Lucifer found oddly familiar. Morningstar glared at the stranger, but the other didn't seem to notice him and walked straight towards Dan instead.

'My darling, you're neglecting yourself...' he purred in soft, deep voice, gently grabbing Dan's chin and sitting on Espinoza's desk like he owned the place.

'Simon...' the detective hissed, but his voice was breaking with emotion. 'I told you I don't want to see you.'

"Simon" only smiled at that, caressing Dan's cheek with his thumb. Dark eyes looked down at him with something akin to fondness.

Lucifer could tell it's an emotion far sinister than that.

'Don't be like that, darling,' Simon cooed. 'I had to leave for some time, that's all. Now I'm back to my favourite pet.'

'Some time? It's been nearly twelve years!' Espinoza hissed, but didn't move away from the touch. Morningstar watched the exchange carefully with suspicion growing in his chest. Dan wasn't acting like himself.

'I truly was busy,' Simon shrugged like twelve years meant nothing at all. 'And now I'm back. Aren't you happy, puppet? I promise I'll make it up to you for all the lost time.'

'You've had... people... when we were together,' Dan argued, but he was slowly giving in to the stranger's unnatural allure. 'A-a-and you made me do things I didn't want.'

Simon chuckled at that.

'I told you I'm not a monogamist,' he said, laughing softly. Simon leaned down, nearly kissing Dan. 'And I know for a fact that you did want all those things. There's no need to deny that. I can see right. Through. You.'

Simon's eyes blazed red for a fraction of a second. Lucifer gasped, recognizing them. Instantly, he was on his feet and approached the pair.

'What in the Hell do you think you're doing here?' he asked, outraged and angry.

"Simon" only looked up at him and grinned.

'Hello, Lucifer. Long time no see...' he gritted and beside him Dan made a noise of surprise, looking between the two.

'Asmodeus, I'll ask again; what are you doing here?' Lucifer pressed. 'And why are you bothering him? Clearly, this human wants nothing to do with you. Go back to Hell right now.'

Simon... Or rather, Asmodeus, pressed his lips together, displeased.

'You gave up on your throne, Lucifer. As of now, you hold no power over me. You can't make me do anything,' he smirked. 'As for my little darling here, well... He does want me. I can see it in his eyes. I can taste it in his soul. His lying little mouth will soon be busy otherwise than talking nonsense.'

'I'll say this again, because clearly you've lost your ability to comprehend simple orders. Leave. Dan. Espinoza. Alone.' Morningstar repeated and there was no doubt he was getting angrier with each passing second.

'No.'

'No?! What do you mean 'no'! Cut the shit, Asmodeus!'

'I said no. He's mine and it's none of your business, anyway.'

Lucifer was taken aback with his underling's defiance.

'Don't push it, Admodeus,' he growled.

The other merely shrugged, unimpressed with Morningstar's anger.

'He is mine. He's been mine for much longer than you've been living among the mortals,' the other shrugged. 'Besides, why do you suddenly care for humans? They're nothing. They're dust at our feet.

This one makes a fine toy, but not more than that. It'll do you well to remember that we're above those beings.'

Lucifer glared at "Simon", clenching his jaw.

'Well, we have to go.' Asmodeus said, popping off Dan's desk and gesturing at Espinoza to follow him. 'Good day to you, Lucifer. However, it'll be for the best if you don't meddle in my business. Play with your humans the way you like it, and I'll do the same.'

Morningstar watched the two walk away. No one in the office seemed to even notice them going.

Well, fuck. He was right this was going to be a mess. What a shame he didn't know just how big it would become.

 

 

* * *

Ps. This is how I imagine Simon/Asmodeus looks like:

 


End file.
